The Shadow of Vale
by Yusuke Yuuki
Summary: "The Queen has pawns." What could it have meant? Ozpin is unsure. In order to aid his quest for answers, Qrow has sent some back up. Little do they realize that they are about to uncover a conspiracy larger than they could have ever imagined, and so a shadow has fallen over the Kingdom of Vale. And only our heroes from Beacon can lift it.
1. Prologue

The weather was bad. Not just your ordinary "bad" but "bad-bad". Lightning streaked across the sky every few seconds and rain poured down relentlessly. But that didn't stop a lone gunship from trying to fly though the storm. The pilots, of course, were very weary of the horrible weather that enveloped the skies around them but they had their orders. Still, that didn't stop them from questioning their superiors' sanity.

Aboard the gunship, four people sat, awaiting their arrival at their intended destination. They were clad in long, black cloaks that hid their whole bodies. The tallest of the four was busy arguing with the shortest, although that didn't seem to bother the other two because most of their chatter was drowned out by the rain and lightning.

The two who weren't arguing continued to sit in silence as they sat across from where the other pair sat. Slight tension could be felt between the two as they just continued to observe their comrades' bickering. Just then, the smaller of the silent pair decided to speak up.

"Rey?" a female voice laced with worry muttered. "Something's bothering you." It wasn't a question, it was clearly a statement.

Blood red eyes met her own as the person beside her broke from his silent contemplation. "It's nothing, Alice. I was just... wondering about this new assignment."

"Don't worry too much about it. I'm sure it'll turn out just fine with you as our leader." The girl beside Rey, whom we now know as Alice, sounded so sure of herself. It was clear she trusted him deeply.

"Yeah, Rey. I'm sure it'll be fine." The tallest had stopped bickering with the shortest and added his own sentiments as he shot a trusting smile towards Rey.

"Worry not." inserted the shortest of the group, a female, with a deadpan facial expression and a clearly monotone voice.

Rey just smiled. Knowing that his teammates had total faith in him put his mind to ease. "Vincent," he glanced towards the tallest, "Nena," then glancing at the shortest, "Thanks. And most of all, thank you, Alice." he said while staring deeply into Alice's eyes. He was truly grateful to have such fine comrades.

Not a few minutes had passed after their exchange when the copilot of the gunship called out through the intercom system. "We'll be landing in a minute. Be ready to dismount."

The four began picking up their gear and baggage, making sure everything was ready for their dismount. Once they had gathered all their gear, they stood, side by side in front of the gunship's closed hatch, ready to exit at a moments notice. A few seconds had passed when a red light switched on near the upper right-hand side of the door, signaling them to be prepared.

"Well..." Rey said as he glanced to the sides and saw the focused expressions on his teammates faces.

Another few seconds later and they finally felt the gunship touch down, engines still roaring, ready to take off once they got out. The light flashed green and the door opened, exposing the four to the elements. After stepping out the door in unison, they turned around to see the door sliding shut and the gunship slowly lifting off and then fade into the night. After standing there for a few moments more, they turned to survey the area of their arrival, rain pelting their faces and causing they hair to stick to their foreheads while the wind whipped their cloaks around violently.

Rey in particular, was busy taking in the sight of the massive complex that stood before him, looming in the distance and offering an already imposing silhouette that was only made even more imposing by the darkness that surrounded him.

As he stared, he mouthed out a single word.

"Beacon."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Hey, guys. This is my first ever fanfiction. I just couldn't get this idea out of my head and I just had to write it. I'm a total amateur at this so tips are welcome. Please read and review.


	2. Chapter 1

Professor Ozpin sat behind his desk, silently reviewing the message Qrow had sent him two days earlier as the rain pattered against the window of his office. For the past two days since he received his old friend's message, he's been doing nothing but silently contemplating the possible implications that the message could bring.

"The Queen has pawns." he muttered to no one in particular as he stood up and began pacing back and forth across his office.

The obvious implications of the statement being that there was some far higher up in the chain of command giving Roman Torchwick his orders and that there were more like him under that person's command. Who that person might be, however, was a total mystery to Ozpin. Moreover, another question that remains to be asked is why exactly they would target Dust shops and shipments of Dust, especially because the first and foremost use of Dust was as a weapon. The thought of it and the possible consequences should the numerous amounts of Dust stolen fall into the wrong hands sent shivers down his spine.

In any case, it's imperative that he find out who gives Roman Torchwick his orders and apprehend him before the situation got out of hand. The last thing he needed was for these strings of robberies to get out of control. The recent attempt by Torchwick at stealing a shipment of Dust from the Schnee Dust Company was not helping otherwise. Apparently the small time criminal was being ordered to target progressively larger sources of Dust. Not to mention the various Bullhead VTOL gunships that appeared suggested that Roman's employer was well financed and well connected. But before Ozpin could explore that train of thought further he heard a knock on his office's door.

"Come in."

Four individuals clad in black cloaks that hid their bodies filed into the room immediately and stood at attention after he had given them consent to enter. Each of them was dripping wet, soaked by the rain. Despite the small inconvenience, they didn't seem bothered by it at all.

"Ah, you must be the youngsters that Qrow sent as back up." Ozpin immediately relaxed into a warm yet somewhat stoic smile. "Settle down. You aren't standing in front of an officer at the Hunter Peacekeeping Bureau, you know."

"With all due respect sir, Captain Qrow has explicitly stated that we are to be under you command for the duration of our assignment here. In that respect, you are effectively our commanding officer." The silver haired male in the group promptly replied.

Ozpin simply sighed and shook his head with a pleased smile on his face. '_You've disciplined them too well, Qrow.'_ he thought to himself. "Very well. At ease."

With that order, the four teens immediately relaxed into more natural stances compared to the stiff and formal stances they took up when in the presence of their superiors.

"Please. Have a seat." Ozpin politely gestured towards the two sets of leather couches that sat in front of his desk. The couches each sat across the other with both couches flanking a glass coffee table.

Taking the offer, the four teens took their seats on the two couches; both men of the group sat on one couch while the two remaining women sat on the other. Ozpin, as well, had moved to stand in front of his desk, facing the four that had just entered his office.

"I assume you know why you are here?" Ozpin asked with a questioning tone in his voice.

"We were assigned here by Captain Qrow to provide you with assistance, sir." Once again, the silver-haired male spoke while his other comrades remained silent. It was apparent that he was the leader of the group.

"Please, enough with the 'sir'. I'd much rather appreciate that you refer to me as 'Professor' while you are here at Beacon." Ozpin frowned slightly at being called 'sir'. He'd rather not have formalities such as those applied. Especially considering that it's been long since he had left the Hunter Peacekeeping Bureau. Not to mention, he'd already gotten accustomed to being referred to by most as 'Professor'.

"I apologize, Professor Ozpin." the silver -haired teen replied with an apologetic smile.

"Now, back to business." Ozpin once again replaced that stoic expression that he always held on his face. "You've all heard of the recent incidents regarding the string of robberies of Dust shops all over Vale, have you not?"

The four nodded in unison.

"And I also take it you've heard of the recent attempted theft of several shipments of Dust from the Vale Docks?" Ozpin shot the four youngsters a quizzical look.

"Are you implying that there's a connection between those incidents and the Vale Docks Heist?" asked a pink-haired girl with wolf ears in the group.

"That is exactly what I am saying." Ozpin nodded affirmatively. "According to the testimony of one of my students here at Beacon who was present during the Vale Docks Heist, the perpetrator is believed to be Roman Torchwick."

The tallest in the group, a dark-haired male, scoffed. "That small time criminal? If he's the one behind these incidents, then you could just apprehend him yourself."

"Ah but it isn't that simple now is it? Of course, if it were that simple I would've just have caught the man myself. But sometimes you have to understand that things are never that simple." Ozpin countered him swiftly and skilfully enough to shut him up completely. "What if I told you that White Fang had aided him?"

The four of them immediately tensed up at the mention of the involvement of White Fang in these recent incidents. Neither of them wanted to admit it but the idea of White Fang working with a lowlife like Torchwick seemed totally absurd. Why would they, the White Fang, ever want to work with a petty criminal like Roman Torchwick? The thought of it baffled them.

"Strange." The shortest of the group, a girl with violet hair, had spoken up, breaking the silence that had ensued while the rest of the group of teens were still trying to process what Ozpin had just said.

"And strange it is indeed, young lady." Ozpin affirmed. "That is why you're here. I had personally requested Qrow for some assistance in investigating these matters."

After allowing them several moments of silence and contemplation, Ozpin decided to speak up again.

"The Queen has pawns."

"What?" The four teens said in unison, clearly confused by his statement.

"The Queen has pawns. That is the message I received from Qrow right after the Vale Docks Heist. Clearly, he knew something about the current incidents but when I asked him to further elaborate on his message, he was unable to answer. It seems that for all his various information networks and methods of espionage, even an ever watchful crow tends to miss some certain details and information." For a moment, Ozpin looked mildly upset with the lack of information to work with before he put up his stoic mask once again."I can, however, safely assume that he meant that there was someone else higher up in the chain of command running the show and giving orders to Torchwick and the White Fang. It is your task to aid me in my investigation and in the apprehension of the people responsible for these crimes."

"Professor?" the silver-haired boy asked.

"Yes?"

"Why do you concern yourself with issues such as these? I mean, you are no longer a member of the Hunter Peacekeeping Bureau and you no longer should concern yourself with such issues. Shouldn't cases such as these be left to the local law enforcers?" The silver-haired boy was clearly confused. He didn't understand, no, he wanted to know why Ozpin would still bother with concerns that should be left to the Peacekeeping Bureau.

"If I were to be frank, I would say that I don't have much faith in the bureaucracy. You tell me to leave it to the local law enforcers despite that fact that they have clearly proven themselves incompetent time and time again. Again you tell me to leave it to the Peacekeeping Bureau but the various processes and paperwork required will only slow us down in our attempt to halt their plans. I simply don't trust the system that much so I've taken it upon myself to take matters into my own hands. We are Hunters. We were created originally for the purpose of fighting the Grimm and protecting the people. But times have changed. In this day and age, the Grimm are no longer the only threat to humankind. Humankind has become a threat to itself and it is our duty as Hunters to keep the peace in order for future generations to prosper. That is our primary mandate." Ozpin had finished his short speech and picked up his favourite mug from his desk and took a sip from it while eyeing the silver-haired boy intently.

"I… I feel the same way." The boy replied after breaking away from his thoughts.

"Good. I'm glad that we understand each other." Ozpin nodded. "Now that we have gotten the explanation of your task out of the way, I'd like to know your names."

"I'm Rey Arclite." The silver-haired boy with blood-red eyes introduced himself.

"I'm Alice. Alice Richards." The pink-haired girl with wolf ears poking up slightly from underneath her hair followed.

"The name's Vincent Marco." The tallest among the four, a boy with long, dark hair, introduced himself next.

"Nena Evans." The last to introduce herself, a very short girl with violet-hair, said with a monotone.

"Very well. For the duration of your stay here at Beacon, you'll be attending classes here while off duty. I'll only be calling on you when you are needed. Now, while I am fully aware that all of you are already certified Junior Hunters at the Hunter Peacekeeping Bureau, I'll still be requiring you to attend classes if only to keep consistent with your cover. And besides, don't any of you want the chance to be a normal student for once?" Ozpin had said that last sentence with a particularly amused tone to his voice. As a matter of fact, it sort of bothered them to hear him say it. "I'll also be placing the four of you in a single team with Rey as the leader. I assume he's been your leader to begin with?"

The four nodded.

"Good. From now on you'll be known as Team RAVN. Here are your Scrolls, they will show you the way to your dorms. Now, off with you. I assume you'd like to take a warm shower after getting soaked with the rain and get some much-needed rest." He handed them their Scrolls and waved them off. Slowly they filed out of the room one by one but before Rey and Alice were able to exit the office, Ozpin called out to them. "Rey and Alice, I gather you are close to Qrow. Am I correct?"

Rey and Alice simply nodded.

"Qrow is an old friend of mine and his niece is a student here. Since the four you will be posing as first years, you're going to be in the same class as her. He asked me to tell you to watch over her from time to time, okay?" Ozpin's face suddenly took on a caring smile when he saw the two youngsters nod in affirmation before exiting the office.

Once again alone in his office, Ozpin sat back down in his chair, taking a sip from his coffee mug and returning to his silent contemplation while staring out the window as the rain still continued to patter against the glass.

_'The Queen has pawns.' _

* * *

Team RAVN walked in silence along the deserted corridors of Beacon. It was, after all, late into the night already. At the rear of the group walked both Rey and Alice, both having left Ozpin's office last. As they continued walked in silence, Rey busied himself, his arms folded across his chest while he was lost deep in thought. The silence would've continued for a while longer had Alice not decided to speak up, curious about what Rey was thinking.

"Hey, Rey? What's on your mind?" she asked, her voice laced with curiosity.

"I was just thinking…" Rey had relaxed a great deal after their meeting with Ozpin, now reverting to his more casual and easy-going demeanor. For a few more seconds, he stared at the ceiling before throwing his hands up and tucking them behind his head.

"Maybe being normal for a little while won't be so bad after all?"

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

And that's chapter one. I dunno. I felt Professor Ozpin's characterization was somewhat... lacking during the course of the actual series. So hence here I give my insights as to what I assume Ozpin to be like. Well, I kinda meant this chapter to be more of an explanation chapter of sorts. Oh and RAVN is pronounced as "Raven". Please read and review.


	3. Chapter 2

Rey had no qualms whatsoever about getting up early, even in the dreadful hours of the morning. In fact, he even made it his personal habit to do so. The fact that he hadn't sleep all too well the previous night hadn't helped. He was still very much unused to his new sleeping arrangements. Often accustomed to terrible sleeping conditions due to his training before he joined the Hunter Peacekeeping Bureau, Rey found the luxury provided by the Beacon dormitories quite bothersome.

Rubbing the last traces of sleep from his eyes, Rey stealthily crawled out of his bed and went through his morning routine, making sure not to disturb his still-sleeping comrades, most especially Alice and Nena. Those two girls were dangerous when their sleep got interrupted.

Memories of a cranky Nena particularly made him cringe in fear mostly because of the fact that she'd beat the offending individual senseless with the flat of her huge sword. Luckily for him, he wasn't normally on the receiving end. That honor was reserved especially for Vincent. Seriously, the man had no subtlety at all.

After swiftly and silently donning his combat gear which consisted of black combat boots, a pair of black pants, a white undershirt, his favourite black long coat that reached up to his shins in length, his team's trademark black cloak that was fastened together with a raven shaped pin and his katana, Rey exited the room and headed to the nearest courtyard, using his Scroll as a map, to perform his morning kata.

Unlike most, Rey was a simple person, a "patron of the classics" if he'd say so himself. His weapon offered no alternative transformations whatsoever. Other than it being absurdly sharp and being infused with Dust to improve its durability, it was nothing more than a simple black katana.

And that's just how he liked it.

* * *

In a different room down the hall from Team RAVN's room, a familiar dark haired girl stirred.

Slowly rousing from her sleep, she surveyed her surroundings with her enhanced vision that allowed her to see as clear as she would during day despite the fact that the sun hasn't risen yet. Seeing that the rest of her teammates were still asleep, she had tried to go back to sleep but alas, sleep would not come. Poor Blake resigned herself to her fate and sleepily crawled out of bed and towards the showers, groaning ever so slightly as she did so.

A quick shower had done just the trick to cure her of her remaining sleepiness and seeing as how going back to sleep was no longer an option, Blake decided it would be a good idea to pass the time left till dawn with a good book out in the courtyard.

Why in the courtyard you say? Well, with Yang's snoring, I'd rather ask why she wouldn't escape to the courtyard. How exactly her teammates slept so peacefully despite Yang's loud snores was a complete and total mystery to her.

After getting dressed in her usual attire and replacing the ever-so-important bow that hid her feline ears, she left the room silently with her book in hand and made her way to the nearby courtyard that she often frequented when she wanted to read her books in peace. She, however, had not expected the courtyard to already be occupied, especially not at this hour. Quickly masking her presence and moving to hide in the shadows, she observed the other occupant of the dormitory courtyard.

From what she could gather, the mysterious person was male if his form was anything to go by. He was wearing a black long coat and was holding a black katana with a reverse grip in his right hand. Apparently he was going through a kata. Blake, of course, knew because she was a katana wielder herself and was familiar with the various forms of kata that involved the use of a katana.

Observing him further, she took note of several of his traits. He was tall, possibly as tall as or taller than Yang, and he had a lean physique. He sported shoulder-length silver hair that was combed into spikes at the back of his head with messy bangs parted to one side in the front.

However, of all his features that particularly struck her, it was his eyes had particularly caught her attention. They were sharp and focused and carried a stern look to them; the eyes of an experienced warrior. Another detail about the mysterious young man's eyes that intrigued her was the color of his eyes. They were red, blood red. If one were to consider all those features, they truly did make him look intimidating.

After having observed his physical features, she moved on to observe his kata.

He held his katana in a reverse grip. A most unusual preference of style is she'd say so herself. His movements were swift and fluid, flowing seamlessly from one form to another, his blade making a distinct humming sound as it sliced though the air around it. It was obvious that he was a master. As she observed further, she noticed that his kata was a tad bit unusual. Instead of simply being purely sword-oriented, she noticed that there were some hand-to-hand forms mixed in as well.

_'Odd…'_ she thought to herself, curious about the mysterious teen's decision to mix in unarmed combat forms with his sword-based techniques. _'Personal preference, I guess.'_

Only a few minutes had passed since Blake started watching him when he suddenly spoke up, calling out to no one in particular.

"You're not making a very good impression by spying on me from the shadows, you know." The silver-haired teen shot a smirk in the direction from where she hid in the shadows while performing a downwards diagonal slice from the right.

Blake's eyes widened with surprise for a moment at the fact that he had sensed her.

"And you're pretty good at sensing my presence." Blake had stepped out from her hiding spot seeing as it was useless to continue hiding when he'd already detected her.

"To be honest, you were pretty sloppy. I've known you were there from the start." He shot back with an amused smile as he stopped his kata and relaxed into a more natural stance and replaced his katana in its sheathe attached to his belt at the rear of his waist.

"I'm sorry for disturbing your morning routine." Blake promptly apologized for her interruption and put on an apologetic smile.

"Ah. No, it's completely fine." He quickly raised his hands up in his defence and waved off her apology. "It was getting boring anyway."

"I'm new here by the way. I'm Rey Arclite. You can call me Rey." The silver-haired teen added, extending his hand towards Blake and putting on a warm, charming smile.

"I'm Blake." She replied, shaking his hand. "I'm on my first year here."

"Is that so? Well, I'm a first year too. I guess this makes you my first and only friend here then." Rey chuckled, scratching the back of his neck and smiling sheepishly. "Well, other than my companions in coming here that is."

"Companions?" Blake asked, looking curious.

"Ah. They're my teammates. We came here to Beacon together. We just arrived last night and since the four of us were the only ones without teams, Professor Ozpin decided to place us in a single team. We're called Team RAVN and I'm the leader." Rey answered, smiling.

"I see." Blake replied, nodding. "Uh… Do you mind if I hang around for a bit and observe your kata?"

Rey simply nodded in affirmation and proceeded to return to his kata while Blake made herself comfortable resting against a tree that stood close to the center of the courtyard and pulled out her book and began reading, glancing at Rey from time to time. They had continued in silence like that until the sun had started poking up over the horizon, casting its warm rays over the grass which was still slightly damp from the previous night's rain. At that point, they had decided head back to their respective rooms.

As they stood in the hallway in front of their respective rooms, about to enter, Rey suddenly called out to Blake.

"Oh, Blake?"

"Yeah?"

"I know about your little Faunus secret. It's... really kind of hard not to notice your bow twitching on its own from time to time, after all." Rey grinned sheepishly while scratching the back of his neck. "But don't worry. Your secret's safe with me."

And with that, Rey disappeared into his room. Blake just couldn't help but stand there and stare at the door to Rey's room while blushing, embarrassed and slightly dumbstruck that he had found out so easily.

It took several moments before Blake had broken from her utterly dumbstruck stupor and finally entered her room. Even after she'd been gone for an hour her teammates were still asleep, although they should be waking soon enough. Realizing she still had a few minutes left of "me time", she sat down on her bed and began thinking about what had just transpired.

* * *

_Meanwhile, in Team RAVN's room…_

Rey had just returned after his morning kata and meeting with Blake to find the rest of his comrades already up and preparing for the day. Alice was already dressed and combing her hair, Vincent was all done with his morning routine and simply laying down on his bed, and Nena had just gotten out of the shower, with only a towel wrapped around her small frame.

The fact that Nena was so scantily clad didn't bother any of the team members. Nope, not even bothered one bit and neither did it bother her. Because she was, for all intents and purposes, their comrade and friend, nothing more.

Well, except for Vincent though but he was a pervert. He'd pretty much take the chance to ogle at any naked or barely clothed woman when the opportunity presented itself. The results of which were often very painful for him, most especially if it was certain Nena Evans that happened to catch his eye.

Vincent, however, had turned a blind eye to Nena's current state. Surely there was something wrong with the guy for him to break such a common habit of his, right?

Vincent eyed Rey intently, trying to decipher the reason for the latter's odd smile.

"Did something happen, Rey?" Vincent asked, now very curious about the reason behind their leader's smile.

"Rey, why do you have a funny look on your face?" Alice asked innocently, realizing that Rey was acting strange so early in the morning.

"Oh, nothing. Just made a new friend." Rey chuckled, sounding quite amused. "I just happened to run into a cat earlier."

"Huh?" The three answered in unison, now very confused with their leader's answer.

* * *

Later that same morning, the four members of Team RAVN arrived at the cafeteria to grab a spot of breakfast. It was only typical that Rey would run into Blake again, but this time, both of them were with their respective teams.

"Hey, Blake." Rey waved at the dark haired girl as he and his team approached the table which Blake and her team were sitting at.

"Hi, Rey." Blake almost reluctantly waved back. Knowing that she wasn't the social kind of person, she was sure her teammates would shower her with questions later and that worried her a bit.

"Ooh, who's the friend, Rey? Your new girlfriend maybe?" Vincent shot Rey a smirk. "You ladykiller."

Alice's eyes suddenly widened in horror as she started panicking, flailing her arms around wildly. "G-G-Girlfriend?!"

"Tch. Damn it, Vincent." Rey responded, not even sounding remotely angry and instead just mildly annoyed, then proceeded to smack him in the back of the head. Nena also did the same.

Rey then turned to Alice and placed a hand on top of her head as she continued to panic, instantly causing her to stop flailing about and look up at him with the look of a kicked puppy. "Listen, just calm down. She's not my girlfriend, just a new friend I made this morning." He then shot her his winning smile causing her to finally relax and calm down.

Blake, who was watching the whole exchange, couldn't help but chuckle. The rest of Team RWBY, however, wasn't so successful at hiding their amusement at what they had just witnessed and had broken into a round of laughter.

After fully recovering, Yang had decided to speak up.

"So, mind if you introduce us to your friend, Blake?" Yang raised her eyebrows in anticipation to hear their introductions.

Rey, not waiting for Blake to speak up, motioned to introduce himself and his team.

"I'm Rey Arclite. And this is Alice Richards, Vincent Marco, and Nena Evans." He pointed at himself and at each member as he introduced them, each member smiling a warm smile when they were introduced. "We're Team RAVN and I'm the team leader."

Ruby was very pleased to get to know another team leader like herself, she immediately piped up at the mention of Rey's position as team leader, hoping that she would have yet another fellow team leader she can share her troubles with when it came to leading her team.

"My name's Ruby Rose and this is my sister Yang, and my friends Weiss and Blake. Although I'm pretty sure you already know Blake. Together, we're Team RWBY." Ruby promptly introduced themselves with each of her team members giving a small wave of acknowledgement as their names were called.

"Wanna come with us to the Vytal Festival later? I hear there's going to be a tournament!" Yang inserted, adding special emphasis at her mention of a tournament. "It's a bit sudden but hey, we're all friends now! I suggest we hang out!"

"Yang, you realize that not everyone is interested in fighting as much as you are, right?" Weiss pointed out in her usually sarcastic and condescending tone.

"On the contrary, we're quite the fighters ourselves." Rey said, immediately correcting Weiss. A challenging grin was plastered on Rey's face as he looked at his teammates expectantly; because for all his laidback and easygoing tendencies, Rey is, at heart, a battle maniac.

"So whaddya say guys?"

"Well, if that means that we don't have to attend classes, then I'm in!" Vincent cheered in celebration, instantly earning him a high-five from Ruby.

"Slackers." mouthed Nena silently in her ever-present monotone while rolling her eyes.

"Well, if you're going, then so are we." Alice said with a smile. "We're a team after all, and teammates should stick together."

"Well, it's settled then!" piped an excited Yang, the anticipation clear in her voice. Naturally a fellow battle maniac such as herself would be excited. The same can be said for Ruby. It's times like these when we can truly say that they are, indeed, sisters.

"You'll be coming too, right Blake?" Rey had turned his attention to the only member of Team RWBY who hadn't spoken throughout the whole exchange.

It was just then that Blake had broken out of her stupor. "Yeah, sure." she answered with a content smile. She was, at the very least, glad to meet someone else who accepted her for what she was and didn't treat her like some sort of vermin.

Not a few minutes had passed as their collective chatter continued when their hunger was brought to attention by a particularly loud and synchronized rumble of their stomachs which, naturally, led them to just stand there and stare at each other with sheepish and slightly embarrassed grins on their faces.

"Right. Save the plans for later. Food first." Vincent pointed out bluntly while turning slightly red, making everyone else chuckle.

And so the two teams sat together at a single table, chatting amiably while swiftly wolfing down their breakfast. Ruby, switching into her typical "weapon freak" mode, made it a point to ask each of the members of Team RAVN about their weapons. Her reactions though, quite interestingly, were quite varied. Of course, she had made it a point to give her final critique based on actual live combat application of their respective weapons.

_'A tournament, huh.'_ Rey thought to himself, slowly and absentmindedly stuffing his food into his mouth, while Ruby droned on endlessly in background about how awesome her Crescent Rose was. The thought of it made him smirk.

_'This should be interesting.'_

* * *

They had arrived at the city of Vale an hour later after they had finished their breakfast, "they" being both Team RAVN and Team RWBY.

As they walked through the streets of Vale, they couldn't help but look around in wonder and appreciate the festive nature of the atmosphere brought by the Vytal Festival surrounding the city. I mean, who wouldn't want to enjoy themselves when the opportunity presented itself? Various forms of merry-making were taking place in the streets all throughout the city ranging from parades to dancing and even drunken brawls despite being only around ten in the morning.

Ah, but of course, to each his own. And by that I mean that each and every member of their group went their separate ways in the meantime before the registration for the tournament started.

Ruby immediately made for the weapon parts stores, taking full advantage of the ongoing Vytal Festival Sale and buying as much maintenance materials as she could get her hands on. Weiss, just as quickly, rushed to the nearest clothing store to inspect the newest combat skirts in stock. Blake, being the bookworm that she is, headed to the nearest bookshop and bought as many books as possible, also taking advantage of the ongoing sale while Yang just simply dived into the closest drunken brawl and proceeded to beat the crap out of every other participant just for the heck of it.

On Team RAVN's end, Rey had settled for simple sightseeing, wandering the streets with Alice while Vincent ran off chasing skirts with Nena in tow, if only to make sure he doesn't do something completely stupid and to smack him in the back of the head when needed.

After an hour had passed of doing their own thing, they all gathered at their previously agreed meeting spot in front of the arena where the Vytal Festival Tournament was to be held. Once they had all gathered, they each registered for their preferred category which, unsurprisingly, was the single combat category in which you'd fight one-on-on in the classic elimination style tournament setup with a battle royale styled preliminary elimination round. The preliminary elimination round, of which, allowed only the remaining two competitors from each assigned group to proceed on to main tournament proper.

And so they gathered in the arena's competitor waiting area, eagerly anticipating the announcement of the elimination round's groupings along with the other competitors since there were four possible groups which they may or may not be assigned to. Among the people present, one in particular had struck Blake though.

It was Sun.

Sun Wukong, the monkey-esque Faunus that Blake had met just a several days prior whom had easily discovered about her secret of being a Faunus, not as quickly as Rey had discovered it though and that thought still bothered her a bit. Maybe she should try a different approach at hiding her cat ears, she mused to herself.

Seeing that she had noticed his presence, it was all but unlikely for him not to notice hers. Striding over to where she sat along with her other teammates, he greeted her with a bright grin.

"Hi!"

"Hey."

"So you finally decided to enter the tourney, huh?" Sun folded his arms across his chest and nodded. "Well, good luck. I hope we get to fight each other."

With that, he walked back to his seat and returned to sitting in silent meditation. He was nothing like the rowdy and mischievous boy she'd met just a few days ago. It was clear that he was serious about this tournament.

Well, if he was willing to be serious about this tournament, then so was she. Despite being initially against joining the tournament, she'd agreed to join earlier that same morning so there was really no point in backing out now. Besides, after what she had witnessed during her little "espionage mission", she was curious about Rey's fighting style.

Minutes later, the distributions for the elimination round were announced. To say that any of them was surprised would've been incorrect. They were already prepared for any and every possible line-up anyway.

Apparently, Rey and Yang were in Group A; Weiss and Alice in Group B; Vincent, Ruby, and Sun in Group C; while Nena and Blake were in Group D. Of course, the members of both teams had already resolved to completely crushing the other competitors save for the members of the opposite team. They wanted to make this a Beacon-only tournament.

Just then, Ruby had remembered something that slipped here mind entirely. Penny wasn't around. Little did she know that Penny, most unfortunately, was still in her little time-out box for being a bad girl and blowing up three gunships back during the Vale Docks Heist. Deciding that Penny probably had her own reasons for her absence, Ruby waved off that train of thought entirely.

A final public announcement then rang out throughout the waiting area, signalling for the contestants of Group A to assemble at the arena for the first elimination round to commence and for the remaining contestants to head towards the stands to watch. Rey and Yang nodded to one another before walking out into the dusty grounds of the arena, which was apparently built to mimic the Colosseum in Rome. Not that they even knew what the Colosseum was. After all, they _are_ in a totally different universe.

It was unsurprising, to say the least, for the remaining members of both teams who weren't participating in the current round of the elimination to find Team JNPR sitting right next to where they decided to settle down amongst the crowd in the stands. Why a certain Nora Valkyrie was not participating in the tournament was a mystery to them.

Well, it _was_ a mystery until Lie Ren had explained that Magnhild, Nora's weapon, was undergoing repairs because the bubbly bruiser had decided to it would be a good idea to bash a random Ursa in the head over and over again until the poor Ursa was ground into a fine paste and until her weapon had gotten severely damaged.

Pyhrra's reason to why she didn't participate was because she was curious and only wanted to observe. Besides, there was always next year's festival.

As for Jaune? Well, we all know his reasons for not participating.

Alas, none of those helped to lift the confusion that developed between them thanks to the fact Team RAVN had no idea what any of them were talking about. Naturally, all that was remedied by a few quick introductions and short explanations, courtesy of our ever-practical Blake. Once those small formalities had been taken care of, as if almost on cue, the bell rang, signalling the start of the first round for the preliminaries.

In an instant, chaos had immediately spread out all across the arena. Explosions going off left and right, battle cries and howls of pain filling the air every few seconds, and people getting thrown about in every direction, no matter where you looked. Truly it was magnificent sight to see.

Acting upon what they had initially agreed on, Rey and Yang teamed up and proceeded to wipe the floor with the rest of the contestants. The audience cheered wildly at the duo as they swept across the battlefield, knocking out all in their path.

As Yang vaulted over Rey's back to kick a man in the face, another man wielding a mace had charged towards Rey, attempting to catch him off guard. Yang called out to Rey and attempted to intercept with Ember Celica's long range blasts only to continuously miss as the man proficiently dodged her shots.

"Rey! Look ou-"

Even before Yang could finish her statement, Rey had already dashed towards the man in a blur, drawing his sword, Shadow Fang, from its sheathe behind his waist which was normally hidden because of his black cloak that concealed his body.

The sword hummed as it sliced through the air, darting towards the man's neck; a killing blow. But before the blade made contact with the man's neck, it stopped. It was a feint, causing the man to try and bring up his mace to guard against the weapon. However, instead of following through with the slash, Rey had stopped at the last moment and vaulted over the man.

As he soared through the air right above the man, Rey twisted himself to face downward, his free left hand now crackling with black lightning was raised in the air. Time seemed to slow down as a dangerous look flashed in his eyes and a smirk spread across his lips and within the space of a second, it was all over.

Rey swiftly brought his hand down upon the man's back in a palm strike, discharging the lightning in a great flash before he could even realize that Rey had vaulted over him. The impact drove the man into the ground, the soil beneath him caving in ever so slightly. After delivering the blow, Rey simply landed gracefully on both feet less than a meter away from where the man had landed and smiled.

Back in the stands, the other members of Team RAVN merely smiled while both Team JNPR and the remaining members of Team RWBY could only say one thing.

"Wow."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Wow. That was my longest one yet. Somehow I'm mildly pleased with my writing in this chapter. I dunno. It just felt right.

Oh and if you're wondering about that black lightning that Rey used, it's his Semblance. And if you wondering if it's a valid one or not, well it most likely is. Yang can emit fire as her Semblance so I don't see why lightning isn't possible.

If you're wondering, I'll be taking a more natural and "organic" route with this. Slowly explaining things over time and expounding more and whatnot.

Please review by the way. It would really mean a lot to me.

Oh and I'll just be posting a global disclaimer denying my ownership of RWBY on my profile since it's bother to keep placing it on every chapter. Yeah, I'm lazy that way.


End file.
